Garry’s Anchorage
Garry’s anchorage
Thursday 7th July 2022
Sky’s clearing today and finally the sun was peaking through. Great wind for a sail but Ricks not feeling 100% so we will motor to Garry’s Anchorage which requires finding the right channel and sticking to it. We have plenty of tide so depth shouldn’t be a problem. I find it so weird that this looks like a wide expanse of water but there are only narrow channels that have enough depth for boats with any sort of draft to travel along. I am very grateful for whoever charted all these and placed markers to make following them easier. Certainly makes you appreciate early sea faring explorers who would have spent many hours stranded on shallow reefs I’m sure.
We had wind against tide on our way over here today which made it a pretty choppy trip but still awesome to be underway again. We get a bit antsy if we stay in one place too long.
Anyway we found the right leads that lead us to the right channels to get here to Garry’s anchorage without running aground. The shallowest point at the west marker heading into Garry’s only got to 3.2meters so still plenty of water for us.
We had 2 goes at anchoring as the first was a bit close to other boats for Ricks liking. When we went to move we ended up doing battle with a houseboat tourist who just cut right in front of us and dropped anchor forcing us to find a third spot further south of the camp grounds.
Anyway we are secure for the night and Rick has his fishing line in already hoping our fishing luck has to improve soon!
Sunset at Garry’s
Beautiful sunset yet again!
Friday 8th July 2022
We had an extremely rocky night and the boat constantly swinging (yawing) with tide and wind. Anchor alarm kept going off and not much rest was had. We decided to move yet again when we saw some of the original boats that were here when we arrived were starting to leave. We found a great spot now north of the campground near the cliff and anchored securely. Tonight with the tide change will be the test.
We took little puss for a run along the channel and mangroves then cut between the two islands (Stewart and MNP22). It was mid tide but not a lot of water so we made slow progress. We finally made it out to the main channel again and headed to the beach at the camp ground where went for a wonder, with dingo sticks in hand, along the southern car trail that has long been abandoned by the look.
Not a lot of wildlife evident and forest here was pretty unremarkable. It’s a bit off putting when they say camping with permit allowed but then there is a crocodile warning sign right in front of the cleared area. I wonder if the crocks have been trained to only eat those without a permit!
Headed back to Nauti Kitty for sundowners and another glorious sunset.
Saturday 9th July 2022
So glad we changed anchorage as we had an awesome nights sleep with no rock and roll. I even managed to do some Pilates on the tramp this morning. In the afternoon Rick wanted to fish but I got him to drop me to shore so I could go on an adventure in search of Garry’s Lake. When I stopped to put on my shoes I noticed some one had found some remains of a turtle and had piled them just near the walk way. There were skeletal remains and a fin. The sharp crushing holes in the lower shell looked to me like they may have been from a croc (Rick said more likely a propeller ) either way very sad to see.
Large dingo print when compare to foot print beside it
Armed with a dingo stick and some water and snacks I headed off firstly on a trail that just seemed to scoot around the foreshore. This path was not well trodden and there were many dingo tracks along with other large 4 toed prints of hopping swamp wallaby! However this was not leading toward the lake so after about half an hour I backtracked to another trail that lead more inland and after over an hour walking I finally spotted the lake in through dense shrub. There was probably a track down to it further on but I had already been walking for an hour and a half and still needed to get back to the beach so I decided it was time to turn around but felt I had achieved my goal anyway.
Nauti Kitty from island path
I got some nice pics of Nauti Kitty as I passed by and rang Rick for a pick up at the beach.
We enjoyed sundowners and looking forward to another good nights sleep before heading off with the high tide to get through the shallowest passage in Sandy straits tomorrow!
Sunday 10th July 2022
We were preparing to depart with the tide today but Rick wasn’t feeling well. A weird dizzy head. So I just sent him to rest as we can go another day. The beauty of no time constraints. I just hope he is ok. One of the things that is of concern out here is getting help if needed. There is help available of course through coast guard and sea rescue but just not as straight forward as calling an ambulance. Anyway I’m sure we won’t be needing any of that.
